UK Food Industry Research Articles

The Development of the Ethnic Food Market in the UK

Epitomising the move towards greater variety and added value in the UK food industry has been the rapid growth of the ethnic or non‐traditional food market. The problems of defining this market segment are examined, together with details of its growth over the past decade. Some explanations as to why and how growth has occurred are given.

Meeting the challenges for the UK Food and Drink Industry in a single European Market

SummaryThe removal of barriers to trade will generate ‘marketing wars’ in which profits will come from value added products of high controlled quality. Investments must be made in understanding the new markets and finding marketing niches. Specialist products will benefit from the economies of scale in manufacturing for an enlarged market.

Company Response to the EEC

Introduction Musschenbroek pointed out in early 1973 that the accession of the UK to the EEC represented a major change in the environment for the UK food and drink industry. UK firms would be subject to higher raw material prices, different sources of supply, new ingredient and packaging legislation, new laws about competition and fair trading, and of course the whole regime of the Common Agricultural Policy.

What will we eat tomorrow? UK food industry and its market

An OECD report on Food Marketing and Economics stated in 1970 that ‘the basic direction of development … is towards a food industry dominated by a limited number of large, efficient, dynamic, market oriented companies’. This is certainly so. In the UK from one to three companies already account for from 60 to 96% of the sales of a wide range of processed foods (biscuits, breakfast cereals, bread, frozen fish, frozen vegetables, ice cream, margarine, potato crisps, sugar, tea, tinned fruit and tinned soups). Out of £362 million spent on advertising in 1973, £88 million was spent on food, more than on any other product category. Undoubtedly the food industry is influencing to an increasing extent what people eat, and their nutrition. An extensive report on the status of the UK food industry and many of its sectors, British Food Profile 1, was released in 1978. The report is discussed below.

Research at Ashridge

At an early stage in the development of Ashridge, it was appreciated that it was not sufficient for a major management development institution solely to pass on knowledge about the practice of management; it was equally important to carry out original research in order to add to this fund of knowledge. Consequently, the Research Unit was set up in 1964 and Philip Sadler was appointed as the first Director of Research. Since that time, the Unit has continued to develop and currently employs twelve full‐time professional staff who are supported by research assistants, secretaries and post‐graduate students seconded by a number of universities in order to gain research experience. In addition, the Unit provides facilities for visiting research fellows. At the present time, for example, there is attached to the Unit an FAO Research Fellow from Budapest, who is carrying out organization studies in the UK food industry and, later in 1976, an Indian industrial relations specialist will spend some months participating in the Unit's research programme. Ashridge is also one of the few independent research institutions in the United Kingdom in which SSRC Senior Research Fellowships are tenable.

Physical Distribution futures for UK food industry

Two years ago David Walters carried out his well publicised “Delphi” study which attempted to establish cause and effect relationships between changes in retailing and developments in physical distribution (RDM, September/October 1973). This article, proceeding logically from the study, looks into the future development of physical distribution in terms of changes in the grocery retailing environment. For the High Street supermarket, more efficient forecasting and inventory control programmes are already available which should help offset the supermarket's lack of storage space and need to be serviced by small vehicles. Supermarkets in edge‐of‐town locations have fewer problems; storage space is generous and volume is such that orders can be delivered in unit loads on pallets or containers.